The Friday Five, 2/18/22: 5 things I've been up to this week

Today is going to be a very busy day. I have to work; I'm hoping to make it to Tiger Sugar midday for a Yelp Elite pick-up event, if the roads are okay; and then tonight I am going to the airport because I am going to visit my boyfriend in Phoenix (last-minute trip for me!), whom is there for a few weeks. 

Delicious homemade pasta from Eatitaliana, Shelby Twp.
Delicious homemade pasta from Eatitaliana, Shelby Twp.

What I've been up to this week:

  1. Dinner get-together with friends. Last Saturday, my friend Kristina invited myself and my boyfriend over to their house, in Shelby Twp., for dinner and board games. We got takeout from Eatitaliana, also in Shelby Twp., and everything was fantastic, as it's made in-house: pictured above is their meat lasagna; regular marinara pasta, I believe; mushroom fettuccine; and penne alla vodka. Not pictured are the desserts—tiramisu, fruit tiramisu, and cannolis—and the homemade tres leches cake that she made. We also played some Codenames after dinner.
  2. Booking travel. If you're a long-time reader of this blog, you probably know that I love traveling, and pre-COVID I traveled a lot. My boyfriend is in Phoenix for two weeks and since I basically can work wherever, I'm grabbing my laptop and joining him for a few days! Excited to get out of the Michigan snow—we got another 4 inches yesterday, I believe—and also explore Phoenix, since I have never been to Arizona, not counting one layover at the Phoenix airport a while back (LAX-PHX-DTW, a few years ago). I decided to YOLO and book travel on Monday, but then later in the week I decided to change it so I get there a little earlier ... I had good timing, because later that day that flight went up to $800, yikes. I booked with a combination of Delta miles and cash, which is a perk of their AmEx credit card. Should be a fun trip. 
  3. Eating tasty food. I mentioned the Eatataliana food earlier, but on Friday we had homemade brisket (more on that in the next bullet point), on Saturday I got Jersey Mike's takeout for lunch, and on Sunday we tried out Bonchon delivery for lunch, and had 2941 Street Food delivery for dinner, which is one of my favorite sandwiches in the metro area (make sure to ask for their samoon chips on the side, too!). I have to say I was a little disappointed in Bonchon—I had heard so much about it, and overall it was maybe a 3.5/5 from me. I'm not sure if it's because we got it delivered or what, but everything was just okay, and it was rather pricey too—for a Korean fried chicken sandwich, Korean fried chicken (boneless wings), garlic fries, and onion rings, it was about $40-45 before tip, which is quite a lot. I am looking forward to trying Noori near me sometime soon though, which is essentially the same concept, although I believe it's mostly wings. 
  4. Watching movies and TV. A lot of movies this week. Last weekend I watched Marry Me on Peacock, which was a lot of fun; even my boyfriend liked it, and I didn't think he liked chick flicks/romcoms, haha. On Monday, I took myself out to the theater to see Death on the Nile, which was also surprisingly really good; I didn't fall asleep, even with my mask on (when I wasn't chowing down on the pretzel nuggs and Slurpee that I bought, as a treat), and I'd give it 4/5 stars. 
    For TV, I'm now about six or seven episodes in to Dollface season 2, and it's very cute. We also binge-watched Love is Blind and Love is Blind: Japan last weekend, although there are now four new LIB episodes out today too. Yesterday I caught up on Kenan, The Wonder Years, and a few others, too.
  5. Making brisket. To be fair, I was not the one who made the brisket, haha, but I still got to enjoy it—for my Valentine's Day present, my boyfriend got out his smoker from his garage and made me homemade brisket. It took about nine hours, from 9am to 6pm, and it was very good, especially with BBQ sauce (although really, it was flavored so well that it didn't even need sauce). To top that off, he made two brisket "logs" and we only ate one, so I have been enjoying leftovers all week too. 
Homemade brisket!
Homemade brisket!


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